Grew on You
by angkat14
Summary: There are just some things that grew on you. Something that wasn’t really there to begin with, but as time goes by, it finally settled in your soul that it became a part of who you are. YahikoTsubame oneshot


**Author's Note:** Yay! In celebration of having finished reading the Rurouni Kenshin manga, I wrote my first RK fic to the one ship I never thought I would be fond of – Yahiko-Tsubame. Light, fluffy and all the tingly sensation of the teenage love.

Read on…

**Disclaimer's Applied!**

* * *

**GREW ON YOU**

* * *

There are just some things you grow up with.

Like the busy streets of Tokyo. The smell of air during spring. Even the bad cooking of Kaoru took some time before I finally got used to it and grow up with.

And saving Tsubame from trouble.

"Please let me pass. I'm on an errand," she mumbled and I took pride on the fact that she did not reveal her fears so easily, her voice not even trembling when she said it.

Well, maybe her voice did tremble a little, but from the shy and stuttering girl I knew five years ago, I consider this a great improvement on her part.

But the thugs only leered at her. _Hn. Just as I expected._ "Isn't it alright if we just have a nice little talk, right, Akabeko's showgirl?"

It must be the _Akabeko's showgirl_ comment, or the way the bastard almost drooled on her, or the look of terror that crossed her innocent face, and maybe, just maybe, I just grew up saving her from all kinds of trouble that I decided to do so again.

"Tsubame isn't good at having nice little talks with hoodlums. However, if you really do want to chat, I'll listen," I said from behind them, emerging from the shadows of the narrow alley.

"Eh? What the hell's with you?" the leader of the four thugs yelled and turned, trying to strike anyone who was behind him – me.

Apparently, it was pretty much useless for I easily caught his sword's blade with just my fingers, much to their shock. "What!"

"Yahiko-kun!" Tsubame exclaimed with the same tone translating to relief and worry, something I also grew up with. Let it be noted that she disliked the idea of me fighting bad people, even if it meant saving her butt.

"Yahiko!" the thugs exclaimed and one by one, as if rehearsed, said, "it can't be the master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu Dojo, master of the thousand shirahadori, Myoujin Yahiko?"

_Yep, it's me alright,_ as I fought the urge to sigh. "Looks like I don't need to introduce myself. Well, what is it that you're going to talk about?" I asked, and just for effect, I glared at them. I want to avoid confrontations as much as possible. Especially with Tsubame around.

And, boy, was I right? The thugs turned and ran, tails between their legs. What boring creatures! Had I fought with them, it would be a great insult to my talent and skills!

"It's amazing. Even your name," she paused as she looked at the thugs running, "and aiming a glare easily got rid of them. The talk in East Japan about the skill of your fingers was really true."

Now, that picked up my interest! "Huh? What's that? Who said such a thing?" I asked, though pretending to be bored.

It was at that moment she looked away from her harassers and gave her full attention to me, "Who…? Oh, everyone has been gossiping like that about you."

I nodded as realization dawned. "It's mistaken. My skill is Japan's second now," I said and accepted that Kenshin was the first. Well, trust Tsubame to know gossips like that, what with her working at the Akabeko. And then my sight strayed on her outfit.

Though every inch and nook of her body was covered, the way it fit snugly on her developing curves was really disturbing for me. I cleared my throat. "More importantly, you," I said suddenly and she looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "Yes, you! What's with those clothes? That striking outfit is almost saying 'please ridicule me'!"

Of course, I know that I was acting a little more like a conservative father and yet I cannot help it. Not that it didn't suit her, she was cute in that outfit, but that's exactly the problem. Every man, young and old, good and bad, is going to look at her, something I did not grow up with.

I grew up with Tsubame left unnoticed by everybody except me. Anything otherwise just didn't sit well with me.

"What? This is the Akabeko's new uniform…it's the sight of the summer," she said hastily, a blush creeping on her face.

I frowned and leaned closer to her. "Isn't that store going towards a more and more dangerous direction?"

Her blush deepened, "I think so, too," she replied meekly – just as it had always been. Tsubame hated it when we come to a disagreement. When I got annoyed at her for affixing –chan in my name, she replaced it with –kun. When I told her I don't want her to be shy anymore, she slowly emerged from her shell. I guess she grew up with that, as well.

"But really, thank you for saving me. How about having lunch together at the Akabeko as an expression of gratitude?" she asked boldly, as it was not common for girls to ask boys out, especially to lunch or dinner.

However, we grew with each other that I wasn't the least bit surprised with the invitation, I was even expecting it, "Sure. That's what I wanted to say. But sorry, I have to go to the dojo. Is after that all right?" I asked in return.

She smiled at me brightly and nodded, her cheeks coloring with joy, "Yeah, its fine."

And off I went to the dojo, I assumed, for a training session. Another thing I grew up with.

And yet, aside from the things that you grow up with, there are just some things that grew on you. Something that wasn't really there to begin with, but as days turned to weeks and weeks into months and eventually to years, it finally settled in your soul that it became a part of who you are.

Tsubame would be the perfect example of that.

And so, after a month of training a bunch of kids in Echigo and barely two months after that incident with her new uniform, it is but natural for me to drop by Akabeko as soon as I arrived, no matter what Kaoru and Kenshin says, as not doing so felt a little weird for me.

"Yahiko-kun! Welcome back!" Tsubame said brightly and I can easily say she was indeed happy to see me, instantly forgetting the fact that she was sweeping the front of the Akabeko. Tae-san would be disappointed with me again. She often complained that I've frequently caused Tsubame to slack off from work since I often drag her with me. Hn, I guess I have to extend a hand to them again this weekend to make up for that.

"Anything interesting during my absence?" I asked, marveling at the extent I missed her. Ever since Jinchuu, I've never really been away for that long that it would be safe to say that never a week would pass by that I would not drop by the Akabeko if only to see her doing her usual routine and then stop immediately just to greet me brightly.

"No…oh, yes, now that you mentioned it," she began and her smile widened, "Yuuta-kun showed up here everyday."

"Really?" I said, not having the ability to stop the frown appearing on my face, and I consoled myself, _I'll kill him later_, I thought Yuutaro was just too much a playboy for his own good. I've only been gone for a month and he's been making a pass at Tsubame already?

He's mistaken if he thought I'll let him lay a hand on her.

Tsubame was someone I grew on with, someone that wasn't really there, but during all those times I saved her, times I stopped her from crying and with all the smiles she so generously gave me, little by little, she grew on me, like a seed slowly turning into a plant and then, eventually to a tree, she became attached to me. A part of me.

Even a fool should realize that I'm not going to give her away. Especially to the likes of Yuutaro.

"Ne, Yahiko-kun?" she asked and nudged me lightly.

"Huh?" I asked, slowly coming back to consciousness, and found her looking at me with a slight blush on her cheeks. I smiled at her, "Anyway, I'm hungry, get me something to eat," I said. _Yup, definitely not going to give her away._

Her smile widened at my mention of food. There was once a time when she had let it slipped that she liked cooking for me. "Yes, sir. Right away!" she said cheerfully.

_They said that the stomach is the way to a man's heart. _And boy, were they right?

"What do you want?" she asked again.

I scratched my head at that, food is food for me, I guess. "Anything," I said, as we entered the Akabeko.

_Ne, Tsubame? Someday, I'm gonna make you my wife._

"Ne, Yahiko-kun?" she asked me, as she linked her arm to mine. First time she did this, actually, but with Tsubame, who really cares how she act towards me? I was startled but I felt something pleasantly tingly at the bottom of my stomach.

And I turned to look at her, to find her adorable blushing face looking at me.

"I like you better than Yuuta-kun," she said, blushed a deeper shade, and held on to me tighter.

I smiled secretly and agreed to what Kaoru had said to Kenshin just before I left the dojo to visit the Akabeko.

"_But to go to the Akabeko right after the trip, no matter what he says, Tsubame is the only one girl for him, isn't that so?"_

"Tsubame?" I began, and looked at our still-linked arms.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go out to dinner tonight, alright?" I asked, softly this time, and looked at her tenderly.

And before my eyes, she bloomed the most beautiful flower a tree like her could muster as I felt her roots sinking deeper and deeper into my soul. "Hai!"

_When had she turned this beautiful?_ "And after that, I'll walk you home," I added. She had definitely been a part of me.

"That would be lovely," she said softly and smiled that same smile that had grown on me.

That girl, Tsubame, she had definitely grown on me.

_-OWARI-_

* * *

**Author's Note:** There, a one-shot Yahiko-Tsubame fic. R&R. 


End file.
